{"id":294431,"date":"2021-02-09T18:08:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T08:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=294431"},"modified":"2021-02-09T18:08:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T08:08:12","slug":"health-services-rack-up-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/02\/09\/health-services-rack-up-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Services Rack Up Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_292978\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-292978\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-292978 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital.jpg 740w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital-269x167.jpg 269w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital-285x177.jpg 285w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital-340x211.jpg 340w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20210127hospital-263x163.jpg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-292978\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service is one of 11 services across Queensland to record operating losses last year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>February 9, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service &#8211; responsible for all South Burnett public hospitals &#8211; was $8.679 million in the red at the end of the last financial year, a report tabled in State Parliament by the Queensland Audit Office shows.<\/p>\n<p>But it was not alone &#8230; the Auditor reported 11 of the State\u2019s 16 Hospital and Health Services reported operating losses, three more than the year before.<\/p>\n<p>Darling Downs Health covers the Toowoomba, Western Downs, Southern Downs and Goondiwindi council areas as well as the South Burnett and Cherbourg, ie. a population of\u00a0283,305.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snapshot of Darling Downs Health to June 2020:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Revenue &#8211; $884 million<\/li>\n<li>Expenses &#8211;\u00a0$892 million<\/li>\n<li>Assets &#8211;\u00a0$519 million<\/li>\n<li>Liabilities &#8211;\u00a0$66.8 million<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (population 426,782, including the Gympie Regional Council area) was even further in debt, recording an operating loss of $27.02 million.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snapshot of Sunshine Coast Health to June 2020:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Revenue &#8211; $1.3 billion<\/li>\n<li>Expenses &#8211; $1.3 billion<\/li>\n<li>Assets &#8211; $2.0 billion<\/li>\n<li>Liabilities &#8211; $715 million<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>The report noted the financial sustainability of Queensland&#8217;s 16 Hospital and Health Services (HHS) continued to decline.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Their combined operating loss in 2019-20 was $82 million (2018-19: $34 million).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In 2019-20, employee expenses increased 8 per cent to $778 million, and are now 68 per cent of total HHS expenses,&#8221; the report stated. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While not all of this increase was a direct result of COVID-19, it did contribute to HHSs&#8217; increasing net costs and declining financial results.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The blow-out in employee costs was coupled with increasing pressure from Queensland Health to improve efficiency and identify cost savings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;With productivity dividends, the department increases the HHSs&#8217; expected activity output without a corresponding increase in the funding they provide,&#8221; the report noted.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The department is also implementing a new way of measuring the labour that HHSs require to deliver health services.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Previously, the department\u2019s analysis and reporting on HHSs&#8217; labour excluded some elements of the workforce such as contractors, consultants and the amount of overtime HHSs incur. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It now includes those elements, which provides a more holistic view of the workforce.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Aiming to control labour costs, the department is using its new measure of labour to set sustainable labour targets for each HHS.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These targets will be difficult for some HHSs to achieve while maintaining performance targets.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>The Audit Office report recommended that:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Queensland Health entities should improve the efficiency of their reporting by automating manual processes, where possible<\/li>\n<li>Resolve outstanding audit issues<\/li>\n<li>Strengthen the security of information systems<\/li>\n<li>Address the backlog of asset maintenance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It also recommended that\u00a0service agreements be established between Queensland Health and individual Hospital and Health Services for shared services.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>External link: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qao.qld.gov.au\/reports-resources\/reports-parliament\/health-2020\">Queensland Audit Office report &#8220;Health 2020&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service &#8211; responsible for all South Burnett public hospitals &#8211; was $8.679 million in the red at the end of the last financial year, a report tabled in State Parliament by the Queensland Audit Office shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":292978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[172,3],"tags":[1551],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Health Services Rack Up Losses - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service - responsible for all South Burnett public hospitals - was $8.679 million in the red at the end of the last financial year, a report tabled in State Parliament by the Queensland Audit Office shows.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/02\/09\/health-services-rack-up-losses\/\" 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